Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards turned in the fastest lap of the day in the briefly rain-interrupted second practice session. Fourth in the morning, Edwards took nearly a second out of his time to finish with a 2:02.667 minute lap for the 3.45-mile track, site of the penultimate round of the MotoGP World Championship.
The time was the best on the day, but by only .026 secs. over what Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi had done in the morning. Rossi couldn’t match his time in the afternoon, coming second to Edwards by .171 secs. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo, second in the morning, dropped to 10th in the afternoon session and fifth overall for the day.
Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner was third fastest in both sessions, with his afternoon time an improvement of .223 secs.
Next in the afternoon was the surprising Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini). Nakano was at the top for much of the session, including during the brief period 20 minutes in when a very brief rain sent everyone to the garage.
Nakano may be riding for a job. Dropped from the San Carlo Honda Gresini team, the Japanese rider has been rumored as the third Kawasaki rider. But with the team run by Spaniard Jorge “Aspar” Martinez, it’s thought a Spanish rider will be tabbed.
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was much improved in the afternoon. After floundering around in 17th place in the morning, the Spaniard took over a second out of his time to finish fifth in the session and sixth overall.
Pedrosa’s teammate Nicky Hayden went from sixth in the morning to ninth in the afternoon, despite lowering his time by a tenth of a second.
After Pedrosa came Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi, four-tenths quicker in the afternoon, and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Andrea Dovizioso, also quicker by a similar margin.
Then LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet, the Frenchman who managed to get through the session without crashing.
Hayden and Lorenzo were next.
Kawasaki’s John Hopkins went slower in the afternoon and fell to 18th in the session.
Friday Afternoon Practice:
1. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2:02.667
2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2:02.838
3. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2:02.970
4. Shinya Nakano (Honda) 2:03.050
5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 2:03.232
6. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 2:03.346
7. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 2:03.430
8. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 2:03.474
9. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2:03.550
10. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2:03.598
11. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 2:03.723
12. Anthony West (Kawasaki) 2:03.925
13. Toni Elias (Ducati) 2:04.183
14. James Toseland (Yamaha) 2:04.190
15. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) 2:04.204
16. Alex de Angelis (Honda) 2:04.281
17. Marco Melandri (Ducati) 2:04.391
18. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) 2:04.568
19. Nobu Aoki (Suzuki) 2:05.998
